Our childhood Christmases are too few. Before the age of three, children know too little to truly appreciate Christmas. After the age of 11, or so, they know too much, as they veer recklessly towards their teenage years. This means that we have perhaps eight pristinely innocent childhood Christmases. We parents must do what we…
Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That’s a pious axiom that doesn’t always hold up. Sometimes the bad time comes and we don’t learn anything. Hopefully this present bad time, Covid-19, will teach us something and make us stronger. My hope is that Covid-19 will teach us something that previous generations didn’t need to…
Laudato Si’ Advent is one of my favourite seasons where we are encouraged to embrace waiting and hope. If 2020 has taught us nothing else, it has certainly shown us what it is like to wait! Perhaps it has also reminded us of what it is like to hope, to hope for an end to…
Minister for Health announces the allocation strategy for COVID-19 vaccines The strategy prioritises those over the age of 65 living in long-term care facilities, frontline healthcare workers who are in direct patient contact and those aged 70 and over. Minister Stephen Donnelly also announced that there should be no barrier to people accessing a vaccine,…
Two weeks to go, Ruadhán Jones suggests some treats you can prepare in advance Christmas is a time to celebrate. We have good reason to, for our Saviour is come! While there is a strong ascetic tradition in the Church, there is another which sees the Earth’s bounty as a sign of God’s love. The…
Mindful Living On each Sunday of Advent we light a new candle in the Advent Wreath. The candles represent hope, peace, love and joy reflecting the fruits of the Spirit as described by St Paul in Galatians 5:22. Because meditation helps to awaken us to the spirit within, these fruits, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…
I should actually be on a plane now, rather than sitting at my desk writing. If it were not for Covid-19 I would be on my way back from Kentucky, having attended the wedding of my God-daughter. As it was, we watched the wedding streamed live on Facebook so that friends around America and family…
Personal Profile Fr Ger Dunne is the man at the helm of the Catholic Chaplaincy in University College Cork. A Dominican, he appreciates the values a university and its culture engenders in students. “I’m always inspired by the goodness of students and they don’t get enough credit, to my mind, for their altruistic nature, I…
When I was a young boy growing up in a Catholic community, the catechesis of the time tried to inspire the hearts of the young with stories of martyrs, saints, and other people who lived out high ideals in terms of virtue and faith. I remember one story in particular that caught my imagination and…
Iconic Dinosaur’s injuries come to light through Queen’s-led research The first Parasaurolophus discovered – the same species which features in the popular Netflix series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous – is likely to have been injured by a falling tree, a study led by a researcher from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) has discovered. Filippo Bertozzo, a…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Ruadhán Jones
Bairbre Cahill